[TriLUG] Thinkpad saga

[Scott G. Hall]

On 14-Mar-2005 16:20 EST, Marc M wrote:
> knoppix-debian seems to be one of the best distros for this type of
> scenario, IMHO.  It just seems to work almost regardless of the
> hardware, age, etc.

On 14-Mar-2005 10:51 EST, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:41:17 -0500, Michael Alan Dorman
> <mdorman at debian.org> wrote:
>> I've been working on Debian since 1995, and I have to say that,
>> unless they're specifically interested in "raw" Debian, I'd actually
>> point people to Ubuntu.
> 
> But what about those of us who can't stand to run Gnome (no
> judgements there, just personal preference) and prefer to run KDE
> instead?  Last I checked Ubuntu didn't support KDE and Kubuntu was
> just a gleam in someone's eye.  Has that situation been updated since?

I would point people to Xandros.  It too is Debian based, and by default
runs KDE, and has an installer rated tops in detecting hardware and
offering drivers.  Also they excel in supporting not-so-standard and
late version sound & video hardware, late keyboard & wireless hardware,
and detecting two heads (dual-monitor), plus authoring DVD's.

For die-hard Linux purists though, Xandros does change some of the
directory structure, and command aliases, populates the KDE menus and
offers a "File Manager" application that makes the experience much more
MS Windows like.  They also modify some package configurations (MySQL,
Apache, Postgres, Open Office, and others I probably haven't found yet)
to support their own idea of /usr/share, /var and /usr/lib structure.
In other words, these aren't pure Debian packages for these apps.  A
lot of people don't have any trouble with that (since they do offer a
full Debian package mirror to install from), but it was sure troubling
for me (an advanced Mandrake, Suse, FreeBSD and Solaris user -- I tend
to install and administer open-source software the same on all platforms).

--
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net